Man Calls Bailiff's On Town Centre Shop

A LUNDWOOD man instructed bailiffs to retrieve money owed to him by a town centre shop after he won a court case following a two-year dispute over a mobile phone.

Dennis Dransfield, 41, of Rodger Road, Lundwood, made a court claim against CEX in The Alhambra shopping centre for £139.

The action came after he purchased a refurbished iPhone because the one he had been sold didn't work properly.

Staff at CEX claimed the phone had been damaged by water, but there was a problem with the on/off switch.

Dennis claims the judgement was 'ignored' and applied for bailiffs to collect the money he was owed.

He said: "They have lost their case at court because we had got everything from the Apple store to say that the phone was not water damage and it turned out to be a fault with the on / off switch and CEX should have swapped it."

Dennis bought a second hand Apple iPhone from CEX in 2010 as a Christmas gift.

He paid about £400 for the 32 gigabyte 3GS phone, but when he got it home it didn't work properly.

Dennis said the phone would turn itself off whenever the screen was touched, which is used to control the phone.

Dennis said he was told the phone had a 12 month warranty and to take it back if there were any problems.

He returned the phone to CEX but was told it was 'wear and tear'.

He contacted CEX's head office, but the manager at the Barnsley branch had said the phone had been damaged by water.

Dennis then took the phone to the Apple store at Meadowhall, where he was told by staff there was a problem with the on/off switch and received an e-mail receipt as proof.

He contacted the CEX head office again, having paid £139 for a refurbished phone from Apple, but to no avail.

He added: "I think it is important we made this stand. A lot of people wouldn't have done it because it has taken all this time. But we just didn't want to let them get away with what they have done."